Red Bull Junior critical: 'Lindblad deserves an F1 chance more than I do'

22:28, 28 Jun

Updated: 00:25, 29 Jun

byLudo van Denderen

Red Bull's talent Pepe Marti won a Formula 2 race in Austria for the second time this season, but still, it's his Junior Team colleague Arvid Lindblad who gets to participate in the first free practice of the British Grand Prix next week. The Spaniard though, fully understands this.

Before him stood the biggest trophy, the tangible memento after winning a spectacular sprint race in F2. Arvid Lindblad, the seventeen-year-old super talent of the Red Bull Junior Team, was less fortunate, after he was involved in an early race crash and had to retire.

This Sunday, Lindblad gets a new chance to shine, though he's probably also already thinking about next week. Then, he'll step into an F1 car for the first time during a Grand Prix weekend, a clear signal that Red Bull Racing has big plans for him.

Marti's future at Red Bull remains unclear

For Pepe Marti, the future at Red Bull is much more uncertain. In his eyes, the victory in Austria changes little. “Obviously, I'm very happy for Arvid to get the FP1,” the Spaniard responds to a question from GPblog.

“I think he's a great driver and I think he'll probably do as good as we saw Alex [Dunne from McLaren] do yesterday [in FP1]. But honestly, it's a win, but it's a sprint race.”

“I'm not the most negative guy on the grid, I think the people who know me well know that, but in the end it's ten points. Arvid won, so [he got] 25 [points] on Sunday in Barcelona, so in the end it's two and a half sprint races.”

Pepe Marti during the F2 sprint race in Austria

In other words: Marti believes that Lindblad deserves his participation in FP1 more than he himself does. “I know my weak points. Obviously, here I managed to qualify, but in the end I was still P9. So, it was still not a good enough job and I know exactly what to do to improve".

It's unclear if and when Marti will get a chance to drive an F1 car during a Grand Prix practice session.